This issue is notable because we return to the present after the year-long journey into the past that was "Zero Year." Interestingly (and a bit disappointingly), it's a little unclear what "present" we get in this issue. In Batman's recap of the events of the previous few weeks, we learn that Selina has become a kingpin of crime and Gordon has been sentenced to murder. Neither event has happened in "Batman Eternal" yet, and it seems weird that Snyder would preview them here. If we were supposed to read "Batman Eternal" #19 (also released this week) first, a note to that effect at the start would've been nice.
In terms of the issue itself, I was initially OK with it until I thought too much about it. A murderer who prides himself on his lack of fame is killing Leslie Thompkins' patients, but we never discover why he chooses Thompkins' patients in the first place. Batman hypothesizes that it's because he found her treating them with dignity to be offensive, but how did he initially encounter her? Was he a patient of hers? Also, Batman finds some prescription bottles at the site of one of the murders and somehow realizes that the killer is going after Leslie next, but Snyder and Duggan never show us that connection. He already knew that the killer was targeting her patients. What about the bottles led him to conclude that the killer was ready to move on Thompkins, particularly if he's been using her client list as his own list for years?
Before I go, I'll note that I really dug Scalera's art. I'm not sure that I'd want every Batman story to look this way, but his take on the Caped Crusader is definitely the highlight of this issue.
** (two of five stars)
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